Dr. Martine Durier-Copp, in an May 2017 interview with CEGE Connection maintained that research is ongoing and must be integrated within our day-to-day interaction and activities. Research goes beyond academic walls for it is the foundation of knowledge exchange and is a continual process.

Research is a core strength of Dalhousie’s Faculty of Management.

“To be engaged, today’s citizen needs to be able to tease out fact from fiction. Notably, it is not just about obtaining information and being able to cite the sources of one’s ideas but being able to digest information, think critically, and participate in dialogue among others with different perspectives.”

CEGE Connection recently learned that Dr. Martine Durier-Copp, Dr. Joyline Makani, Dr. Binod Sundararajan, Dr. Stéphane Mechoulan and Research Assistants, Alison Brown and Conor Falvey ( aka the SSHRC Partnership Engage Team) have been awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grant to explore virtual teams, e-leadership within the context of the public sector. Dr. Durier-Copp notes, “This is an exciting research initiative that will enhance our understanding of how project teams and working groups collaborate within a virtual environment.”

The professional landscape in the Canadian public service is increasingly dominated by project teams and working groups which collaborate virtually to address complex problems. Not constrained by traditional geographic and time boundaries, virtual teams like these can offer many advantages, if effectively managed: improved efficiency, leveraged expertise, increased ingenuity and innovation, and reduced costs. However, literature demonstrates that most virtual teams are established without planning or training, are not working to their full potential, and are leading to unsatisfactory outcomes and sometimes even conflict

In the coming months, the SSHRC Partnership Engage Team will develop, deliver, and assess the value and impact of a set of guidelines and best practices intended to enhance the management and leadership of virtual teams within the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Guidelines and training will be designed to meet the specific needs of virtual teams within the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, including cultivating trust, keeping employees engaged, leveraging technology to overcome communication barriers, aligning organizational goals, and clarifying roles, objectives, and expectations. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will benefit from finalized actionable guidelines that will enable enhanced productivity and innovation of its virtual teams and contribute to overall strengthened organizational performance and service to Canadians.

I was thrilled to meet with Minister Diab, a Dalhousie MPA graduate. Minister Diab was a co-panelist at our closing IOG/FOM Inter-Jurisdictional Executive Leadership presentation evening Spring, 2018. She exemplifies the leadership necessary to thrive within a new and evolving inter-jurisdictional, inter-sectoral and interdependent world.” Dr. Martine Durier-Copp.

The Honourable Lena Metlege Diab & Dr. Martine Durier-Copp

Photo Credit Anthony Zibara, Executive Assistant

Dr. Martine Durier-Copp was honoured to be welcomed to the Nova Scotia Legislature by the Minister for Immigration and La Francophonie, Hon. Lena Metlege Diab, MPA.

Martine began her career in international development in Montreal, relocating to Nova Scotia to take on challenging roles in the health care domain, serving as executive director of the Nova Scotia Royal Commission on Health Care and as the founding executive director of the Nova Scotia Provincial Health Council. Over the years, she has managed a number of international health projects and has, for over 20 years, served as a professor of the Dalhousie School of Public Administration.

Not only has Dr. Durier-Copp led the Social Science and Humanities Research Council-funded research into virtual teams, e-learning, and e-leadership, she is a skilled dancer and choreographer, bringing authentic flamenco to Atlantic Canada through Halifax’s Flamenco en Rouge group. I ask all members to join me in applauding Dr. Durier-Copp and thank her for helping shape the leaders of tomorrow, body, and mind.”

“While in Ottawa, I was delighted to meet with MPA(M) alumnus, François Trépanier! After a very distinguished career with the Federal Government, François has thrown his hat in the political ring! He is a candidate in Innes Ward, Ottawa, with a strong and progressive platform on environment and municipal transportation.”

François Trépanier MPA(M) graduated in the Class of 2009. He embarked on his MPA(M) journey while serving as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, a career that spanned 28 years. François’s pursuit of knowledge continued after graduation when he went on to complete a M.Ed degree. Michelle Hunter recalls, “François was a stellar student and always brought much to the conversation.”

CEGE Connection reached out to François on the campaign trail. François graciously took time out of his busy schedule to discuss his vision and dedication to his community. October 22, 2018 is Voting Day. CEGE Connection will be following the election with great interest. Our thoughts and best wishes will be with François, his wife Laurie, and children, Victoria and Justin, during this exciting time.

I want to be a strong voice for Innes Ward, Ottawa. This is where my family chose to live and volunteer within a vibrant and compassionate community.

Innes Ward is one of the greatest areas in the City of Ottawa, rich in people, culture, and scenic beauty. Surrounded by the lush greenbelt, family friendly parks and outstanding recreation spaces, the neighbourhoods of Innes Ward are the ideal places to live, work and play.

As Innes Ward city council candidate, I want to be a STRONG VOICE FOR INNES.

The knowledge and experience acquired during my career in the Canadian Armed Forces and, more recently, operating a successful training consulting business with clients located in the City of Ottawa, has prepared me to serve the citizens of the Innes Ward.

I believe that together, we can continue to make our ward a great place for our families, ensure the protection of our environment and encourage a vibrant and growing local economy.

“Camino”, or journey is the essence of Flamenco. It embodies the allegory for the journey of learning, discovering, embracing life, with its positive and challenging elements. Creativity gives rise to a sense of discovery and fosters an inward dialogue that influences our connections within community.”

Martine Durier-Copp

Flamenco en Rouge

On August 11, 2018, The National Gallery/Musée des beaux arts, Ottawa, will host, Camino Flamenco, performed by Flamenco en Rouge in collaboration with artists David Howard and Robin Muller. Camino Flamenco is a dramatic multimedia production on the theme of journey. Passionate and virtuosic flamenco music and dance will be framed by projections of Spanish art, and specially produced textiles. This event promises an unforgettable evening for those fortunate to be in Ottawa on August 11th.

Flamenco en Rouge is a Flamenco group of eight musicians, singers and dancers committed to the pure, authentic beauty of the art form, delivered through intensely original creations. Martine Durier-Copp, Director, Centre for Executive and Graduate Education, is a principal Flamenco dancer and Flamenco en Rouge’s Artistic Director. Martine’s choreography flare comes from her focused dedication and years of training in Spain. She delivers an authentic, highly emotional Jerez-style gypsy flamenco.

In a recent telephone interview with CEGE Connection, Martine shared her insights on the upcoming performance.

Martine Durier-Copp

El Camino means “the way” and “journey” and signifies the undertaking of a transformative voyage. Flamenco has been my own personal journey of discovery and creativity.

Flamenco, a UNESCO world heritage treasure, is not “codified” into a body of knowledge that can be transmitted through traditional teaching methods – it is primarily transmitted through an oral tradition, involving studying with recognized masters in Spain. Understanding and dancing according to established structures, and improvising, are key components of gitano (gypsy) flamenco, achieved within “palos” that are established frameworks and communication patterns among musicians, dancers and singers.

Flamenco speaks to universal themes of struggle, search for meaning and identify, and embracing of life, with its many vicissitudes. The emotionality of flamenco, and the powerful feelings that it conjures, are felt by audiences around the world. For me, it is a highly spiritual undertaking, wherein those feelings are sublimated through their expression, and through communication with the audience. We all emerge transformed by the experience!

I was recently honored to receive a Canada Council grant for my dance, which was most humbling, as a peer-reviewed recognition, and, at the same time, very motivating!

I look forward to sharing the outcomes of this exciting project in future CEGE Connection posts.

“I am pleased be involved in the Hivuliqtikhanut program that supports the public service and advances the leadership skills of dedicated individuals who seek positive outcomes for those who make Nunavut their home.”

Dr. Martine Durier-Copp

Congratulations to Cohort 2 of the Hivuliqtikhanut Supervisor Program for Nunavut public servants.

On November 6, 2017, CFAME Connection received word that Dr. Martine Durier-Copp arrived in Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Iqaluit, signifying “place of many fish” in the Inuktitut language, is situated on Baffin Island, at the mouth of Sylvia Grinnell River, on Frobisher Bay. Renowned for its pristine ice-capped mountains, tundra valleys, caribou and Arctic foxes, Iqaluit is one of Canada’s fastest growing communities.

Dr. Martine Durier-Copp

Dr. Martine Durier-Copp advised she was delighted to spend a week in Iqaluit, even experiencing a major snowstorm while there.

The objectives of these projects are to enhance the leadership and policy formulation capacity of Government of Nunavut, specifically beneficiaries (Inuit) professionals working in the public sector.

The Government of Nunavut is a young government, whose institutions are increasing their capabilities in policy and management, and general professionalization of the public service.

Dalhousie Faculty of Management is providing advice in project design, curriculum development and delivery. The School of Public Administration is the lead academic unit. Project participants include Bob Moody, Markus Sharaput, Kevin Quigley, Jeff Roy, together with Vivian Howard, James Barker and Florence Tarrant.

I came to Iqaluit to meet with the Government of Nunavut to discuss project planning/progress, to co-teach a module on political and bureaucratic interface and deliver two info sessions to graduates of the leadership program, who have advanced standing into our MPAM/MIM and MBA (Leadership) programs.

I am pleased be involved in the Hivuliqtikhanut program that supports the public service and advances the leadership skills of dedicated individuals who seek positive outcomes for those who make Nunavut their home.

Congratulations to Cohort 2 of the Hivuliqtikhanut supervisor Program for Nunavut public servants.

CFAME Connection is pleased to announce the launch of the CELNeT website, an online space dedicated to the Collaboration, e-Learning and Networks lab.

Sophisticated technologies have increased our opportunities to connect even as they have presented new challenges in how we communicate without the benefit of face-to-face interaction. CELNet specializes in e-Leadership and virtual team disciplines and provides customized consulting for private and public sector organizations.

In a recent FaceTime interview with CFAME Connection, Maggie Pearson, Research Assistant, CELNeT, CFAME, highlighted the progress made since CELNeT’s beginnings in 2015.

Maggie Pearson:

At CELNeT, we believe e-Leadership is a critical area for research and teaching in management. Our mission is to be a resource for all of Dalhousie’s Faculty of Management’s schools and programmes. I have been privileged to work with Martine Durier-Copp and Binod Sundararajan, the founders of the CELNeT program as well as the dedicated researchers who are affiliated with this initiative.

Martine and Binod developed the ConnecT Framework training model, which is based on evidence that major communication breakdowns and conflicts in virtual teams can be mitigated through leadership intervention. The ConnecT Framework explores the e-Leadership competencies that empower teams, leverage technology, and utilize timelines. Feedback has been extremely gratifying.

I believe that CELNeT’s success over the past two years comes from our personal experience of working remotely. We understand the nuances of communicating within a virtual team structure. Our evidence-based training modules are specifically designed to enable managers to thrive within a dynamic team environment.

As a graduate of Dalhousie’s Master of Library and Information Studies, I was excited to become involved in a project that held such potential for collaboration. My predecessor, Amy Belanger, assisted Martine and Binod in the creation of the CELNeT training framework. Part of my mission was to design the website and build upon Amy’s foundation for the site’s information architecture. CELNeT required an online presence where researchers, learners, and seekers of solutions could connect, collaborate, and follow up.

During my tenure with CELNeT, I have participated in analyzing interviews with private and public sector employees on their virtual team experiences, researching best practices for successful e-leadership and virtual team work, developing workshop material for delivering our e-leadership training, and, of course, connecting with a network of researchers and building the CELNeT website.

My term at CELNeT is coming to an end. As I go on to pursue other personal and professional goals, I will take with me the invaluable insight gained from working within a vibrant team. I am confident that the incoming research assistant will continue to expand the website with more researchers, resources, and connections.

“My Dal years continue to leverage my strategic mindset; at the same time, it has given me insight into the need to participate and contribute within a complex, global community.” Tyler Saito

Deeper learning has invaluable outcomes for those who engage in this form of education. We live in a world that offers contradictions and paradoxes. This complexity requires a strategic approach and a rich understanding of the human experience. Deeper learning provides a dynamic milieu in which to explore new ideas, methodologies, diverse perspectives and alternative possibilities.

Martine: We have found that deeper learning occurs when we work within a team that encourages and respects diversity. There are challenges and opportunities, of course. When we learn something new, there is a feeling of discomfort with underlying dissonance notes until we recognize the potential of adapting to new ideas, processes and ways of thinking.

Joyline: Deeper learning is the opposite of group think because it demands open and honest dialogue. Diverse positions are welcomed and cultivated.

Martine: We have made excellent progress in integrating deeper learning in CFAME’s on-line/blended learning programs. We are modeling the adaptive behaviours espoused by deeper learning. Even now, we are researching innovative ways to increase this concept within our course delivery.

Tyler: My decision to enter CFAME’s MBA(FS) program, provided me with the opportunity to engage in deeper learning. I continue to hone and develop the competencies that I gained during my studies in a variety of capacities. At present, Coast Capital is focused on the future of wealth management within a changing regulatory landscape and increasingly digital environment. My purpose is to help our members achieve what is important in their lives. As we shift our culture to a more qualitative experience, I have employed significant portions of what I learned in change management, digital tool deployment, and human resource management.

Joyline: Tyler has identified the meaning of education. Learning is about change, which will be reflected in our decisions, choices and reactions to events. Deeper learning heightens those outcomes because there is an increased focus on skills and knowledge that reinforce the learning process. An open and curious mindset is ready to entertain and develop fresh capabilities.

Tyler: Joyline and Martine’s comments resonate. I apply the skills developed during my Dal studies to my volunteer outreach such as coaching in my local fastpitch organization. As well, CTV Morning Live is a way that I can to share vital knowledge. People reach out and ask for more details. It is satisfying to know that I have a positive impact on the well-being of listeners. My Dal years continue to leverage my strategic mindset; at the same time, it has given me insight into the need to participate and contribute within a complex, global community.

In a follow-up post to Joyline’s overview of their research, CFAME Connection reached out to Martine and Joyline to provide a synopsis of their findings. Martine and Joyline suggest that the core phenomenon of conversation fortifies deeper learning in virtual teams and e-learning environments.

Incidentally, this interview is proof that virtual teams are global. At the time of writing this post, Martine was travelling in Spain, Joyline was in Halifax, and I was in Vancouver. We hope that you will join the discussion by sharing your e-learning experiences. As Martine noted: “our students also help to build this base of knowledge – all student projects contribute to this exercise.”

Martine:Recently, there has been an increased focus on deeper learning in higher educational settings. And by deeper learning, we mean delivering robust course content in ways that engage students to study, integrate and apply what they have learned. Deeper learning fosters competencies required to participate within our social milieu: critical thinking, collaborative and communication skills, for example. Our objective was to identify the core skills and knowledge from research that reinforce each other and together promote deeper learning, specifically within the context of e-learning

Joyline: Virtual teams have become ubiquitous. However, they have not been empirically studied in the academic sphere, and little is known about their effectiveness as a learning mechanism in e-learning. Martine and I were eager to pursue this area of investigation.There is growing practical evidence that one of the key factors for e-learning success is an understanding of the social component of learning, i.e., the importance of person-to-person, and group/team interactions within the e-learning framework.

Martine:Our experience and research found that most workplace training and graduate teaching in e-learning environments utilize group work. Group or team work, according to precepts of adult education, nurtures deeper learning. Team work provides skills that professional programme students require in the workplace, where teams are the norm today and team work a required skill set.When there is a collaborative environment for learning, more experiences are shared and knowledge can be processed from different perspectives. Moreover, concepts learned by examining them from a number of different perspectives can enhance learning.

Joyline:Our research demonstrated that the core phenomenon of conversation fortified virtual teams and e-learning environments. Conversation is the all-embracing term that describes socialization as well as communication processes within the learning environment. Conversation is identified as allowing learners to experience social presence and develop a feeling of belonging and psychological closeness, which is crucial to the development of deeper learning. Within the e-learning literature concepts such as collaboration, community and connectedness dominated the results pointing to student satisfaction and success.

Martine:Learning is about conversations. It is our conversations that allow us to experience social presence and develop a feeling of trust. When we work within a compassionate and supportive team, our learning potential is enhanced. Conversations encourage deeper learning.

Joyline:Martine and I believe that our study findings will strengthen e-learning program planning and delivery within educational centres that are already engaged in e-learning, as well as convey important best practices for learning centres at the beginning stages of e-learning development.

Martine:Adding to Joyline’s comment, we believe our study also has broad societal implications. It has the potential to fuel social and economic development and innovation, and to inspire lifelong learning in our society.

Since 2009, Martine Durier-Copp has been the Director for the Centre for Advanced Management Education in the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University, where she continues to engage in her passion of continuous learning and capacity development.

In a recent interview with CFAME Connection, Martine shared her insights into the art of management.

Management is an art, but also a science, and as any science, it is informed by knowledge. Knowledge develops and grows, as we conduct more research.

The way we teach management also evolves, and is based on current best practices, as informed by ongoing research.

Researchers at Dalhousie’s Faculty of Management study and investigate all facets of management – from finance, operations management, strategy, marketing, etc. Our students also help to build this base of knowledge – all student projects contribute to this exercise.

At CFAME, we are particularly interested in e-learning – that means, how students learn on line, and how that is different from how they learn in traditional classrooms. That knowledge helps to inform the way we teach on line. So, how do we conduct research?

One always begins with an analysis or review of the literature. What have other researchers found? We examine their studies for relevance, context, and of course, methodological rigour. From there, we can move on to extract important themes and issues, which can help us to develop a research framework – the lens or perspective from which we shall conduct our own analysis.

We then frame our research question, being a precise as possible; select our research method – and justify that method.

Without doubt, research in academia is demanding. A great deal of reading, synthesizing, reviewing, checking and rechecking goes into a research project. This becomes clear to all who enter an MBA program. In business, strategy is based on documented research that flows from academic efforts. This is the critical link between the two entities. And who best to facilitate that link – graduates of CFAME’s MBA programs.

“Achieving the sought-after MBA designation, is not the final destination for CFAME graduates. Their influence, as strategic thinkers in the knowledge economy, is a confirmation that continuous learning leads to success and increased productivity. This is the legacy of CFAME’s commitment to excellence.”

Dr. Martine Durier-Copp believes that research is ongoing and must be integrated within our day-to-day interactions and activities. She agrees with Dr. Makani that research goes beyond academic walls. Research is the foundation of knowledge exchange and is a continual process. In a recent virtual interview, Dr. Durier-Copp provides background on ongoing research at the Centre for Advanced Management Education.

Management is an art, but also a science, and as any science, it is informed by knowledge. Knowledge develops and grows, as we conduct more research. The way we teach management also evolves, and is based on current best practices, as informed by ongoing research.

Researchers at Dalhousie’s Faculty of Management study and investigate all facets of management from finance, operations management, strategy, marketing, to name a few. Our students also help to build this base of knowledge and are essential for the integration of knowledge within the broader community. Our students’ projects provide invaluable contributions to this exercise.

At CFAME, we are particularly interested in e-learning. That means, how students learn on-line, and how that is different from how they learn in traditional classrooms. That knowledge helps to inform the way we teach on line. Achieving the sought-after MBA designation, is not the final destination for CFAME graduates. Their influence, as strategic thinkers in the knowledge economy, is a confirmation that continuous learning leads to success and increased productivity. This is the legacy of CFAME’s commitment to excellence.

So, how do we conduct research?

One always begins with an analysis or review of the literature. What have other researchers found? We examine their studies for relevance, context, and of course, methodological rigour. From there, we can move on to extract important themes and issues, which can help us to develop a research framework – the lens or perspective from which we shall conduct our own analysis.

We then frame our research question, being a precise as possible; select our research method; and justify that method.